I'll be the first to admit that I have A LOT of kitchen gadgets, some of which I never use. However, now that we are doing so much cooking at home - much of which requires additional prep, like shredding our own cheese - I use a lot of the gadgets that used to sit idle.
Since Christmas is just around the corner, closely followed by New Year's resolutions, I thought I would put together a list of my top 10 kitchen gadgets for under $20. Tell me what you would add to the list in the comments section.
My 10 Favorite Kitchen Gadgets for Under $20
1. Box Grater - We no longer buy shredded cheese, so our box grater gets a workout. I personally like the graters that also include a receptacle to catch the cheese as you shred. Bonus: box graters work great for shredding vegetables, too.
2. "Y" Vegetable Peeler - Long before we committed to eating "real" food at home, we ate a lot of vegetables. Before we discovered the "Y" style vegetable peeler my husband always opted for a knife to peel fruit and veggies. However, the Zyliss Y peeler was a game changer for us - it's so effective and efficient that I peel raw acorn and butternut squash with it.
3. Apple Corer - This is one of the tools I've had for a couple of years now that I rarely used until we made the switch to clean eating. Now I use this frequently to make pear and apple chips in our dehydrator, as well as to make peanut butter apple sandwiches for the girls' lunches.
4. Biscuit Cutter - This is another tool we have had sitting around for awhile, but we have only recently started using much. Homemade whole wheat biscuits have become a common fixture in our house, and thanks to this set of biscuit cutters we get a perfect size and shape each time. The smallest also works great for cutting crackers.
5. Silicone Baking Mat - We basically use our silicone baking mats every time we bake or roast anything. They are a great replacement for cooking spray and make cleanup a breeze. Now I can confidently ignore the directions to 'prepare' the pan with butter or cooking spray. We have both the 1/4 sheet size and the 1/2 sheet size, and I am seriously contemplating getting a second 1/2 sheet size just to have an extra because we use it that much.
6. Rimmed Baking Sheet - I am guessing a lot of you already own a cookie sheet, but I am adding this one on just in case you don't. We use our quarter and half baking sheets several times a week. Pair this with the Silpat for roasting vegetables and meat, baking cookies, making granola and fruit leather, or dehydrating fruit. I got the Nordic Ware quarter sheet for Christmas last year, and it has held up so well that I have the half sheet on my wish list this year. It seriously looks the same as the day I got it - not even a hint of warping or staining.
7. Salad Spinner - We use our salad spinner so frequently during the spring when we seem to get 5 different types of greens in our vegetable CSA each week. The salad spinner is so much more efficient than hand-washing and drying greens; with a salad spinner, you just put any type of greens in the basket, rinse them with water really well, put them in the spinner, and give them a spin. The best part - our daughters love using the salad spinner, so we can some prep work to them. *I'm cheating on my pick on this one a bit because we have the $40 OXO version, but I think we would be just as happy with a much cheaper, smaller version.
8. Garlic Press - If you do not already have a garlic press, you seriously need one. Garlic presses are such a time saver; you can throw multiple unpeeled cloves of garlic in the press, squeeze, and have perfectly crushed garlic in seconds. Cleaning the garlic press is not such a breeze; however, my pick separates into two separate pieces, so the handle can be used to scrape the crushed garlic off and clean the leftovers out of the press. Genius!
9. Quality Measuring Spoons & Measuring Cups - Every home cook deserves a quality set of measuring tools that also includes a wide variety of measurements. I highly recommend investing in a stainless steel set of measuring cups and measuring spoons with etched numbers. While they may cost a bit more than the plastic set, you will not need to replace them in a few years when one melts or the numbers start to wear off. I personally have two sets of measuring spoons, so I do not have to constantly rinse spoons as I cook. I am linking to my favorite set of measuring spoons, which are long and narrow so they easily fit in most spice jars. It is so much more convenient to stick the spoon in the jar than to try to carefully pour spices into the spoon.
10. Immersion Blender - While this may not be a 'must-have' for everyone, I use my immersion blender a fair amount especially this time of year when I am making soups. Instead of transferring hot soup to a blender to get a smooth texture, I just use the immersion blender right in the Dutch oven. My sister uses hers to make smoothies (without any ice or frozen fruit) for her kids everyday. Our exact immersion blender has been discontinued, but my pick is an updated version with detachable heads for easy cleaning.
